CINCINNATI — This was more like the brand of baseball that got the Mariners here, back in the thick of the postseason hunt.
Mike Ford, J.P. Crawford and Cal Raleigh all homered, the bullpen was nearly flawless late, and the Mariners snapped a three-game losing skid with an 8-4 victory over the Reds to avoid a series sweep Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park.
"You're going to have those valleys a little bit," manager Scott Servais said. "It's nice to see our guys, they got to the ballpark very focused today. We needed to come out and get this win. And we got it done."
The Mariners (78-61) continue their 10-game, 10-day trip in Tampa Bay on Thursday to open a pivotal four-game series between two of the top teams in the American League.
Luis Castillo is scheduled to start the series opener against the Rays (83-55), who will counter with right-hander Zack Littell.
The Mariners built some momentum for the weekend with a mini home run derby early Wednesday.
Ford hit a 400-foot blast out to right field, a two-run shot off Reds rookie right-hander Lyon Richardson. He stood and admired the flight of the ball in the second inning, giving the Mariners a 2-0 lead.
Ty France worked a 10-pitch walk in front of Ford to get on base.
The Mariners added five more runs in the fourth.
France doubled down the left-field line to score Eugenio Suarez from first. (Suarez was wearing brand-new cleats Wednesday night, and he's never looked faster.)
After a Josh Rojas walk, Crawford turned on a 97-mph fastball on the inner half and sent it way out for a 382-foot homer. It was his 15th of the season, continuing his unexpected power surge. He's been one of the most productive hitters in the AL in the second half of the season.
"It's a credit to him on focusing on getting better," Servais said. "J.P. is a really good, established major-league player with security contract-wise, knowing he's going to be a fabric of our club going forward. But that's not enough.
"I think we all know how we felt when the playoffs ended last year. We needed to get better. And nobody took that to heart more than J.P. Crawford, and we're seeing it play out every day."
Two batters later, Raleigh hit a line-drive rocket that just cleared the wall in right field, estimated at 107.5 mph off the bat. It would have been a homer in just seven of 30 big-league parks, but the Mariners were on the other end of that in Tuesday's deflating loss when the bullpen coughed up a four-run lead.
The bullpen was back to form Wednesday.
The Mariners needed a strong start Wednesday, and Logan Gilbert was sharp early, helping the Mariners built a 7-1 lead through five innings.
"Hat's off to Logan Gilbert. He went out and did exactly what we needed him to do tonight," Servais said. "He just kind of calmed the game down and got into his game."
He touched 98 mph with his fastball, and had his four-pitch mix working well, helping him finish with nine strikeouts.
His evolving splitter has been particularly sharp in his two starts on this road trip. He had 17 swings-and-misses in all Wednesday, and five alone (on nine swings) with the splitter.
"It's helped out a lot," he said of the splitter, a new pitch for him this year. "Just like anything else, when I think fastball and try not to manipulate it too much, it comes out better. So that's the main thing, basically just try to throw down the middle like a fastball and let it fall off. When I get it out front, it works pretty well."
Gilbert ran into trouble in the sixth inning, and Matt Brash was called on in relief with two runners on and only one out.
After allowing a Noelvi Marte single, Brash got a strikeout and a groundout to strand the bases loaded in the sixth.
Gabe Speier pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning, and Justin Topa pitched a scoreless eighth.
In the ninth, Andres Muñoz allowed a one-out homer to Will Benson, on an 0-2 pitch, but he struck out Spencer Steer to end it.
"That's how we're used to pitching," Servais said. "I thought our guys out of the bullpen were very aggressive."
France had made it 8-3 with an RBI single in the seventh inning. He finished with two hits, two walks, two RBI and two runs, and Raleigh added three hits and a walk.
"I've been working a lot, just trying to find my swing," France said. "Today, I felt like I was on time. I was swinging at the right pitches and laying off good pitchers' pitches. Just trying to get some rhythm and momentum going here into the next couple of weeks."
Gilbert struck out nine over 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with two walks.
For the record, the Mariners did not hit a batter Wednesday, after plunking Reds batters seven times in the first two games of the series. Seattle pitchers entered the series with the fewest number of hit batters in MLB this season.
The Reds (73-69) managed to win the series, and stay in contention for an NL wild-card berth, despite missing four pitchers who were placed on the COVID list over the weekend. They were also missing several key position players — notably, Joey Votto and Jonathan India.
"You're never comfortable here. At least that's how I felt," Servais said. "We're ready to get out of Cincinnati."
